The Long Journey to Ever Grande
by Inferno of Flames
Summary: A trainer fan fiction set in the Ruby/Sapphire land of Hoenn. Kevin Jet, a fifteen year old with a tough childhood, starts on a Pokemon journey that would become the best years of his life.
1. Prologue

_**The Long Journey to Ever Grande**_

_Prologue_

Lightning flashed across the sky over the quaint little Littleroot Town. A resounding clap of thunder followed as the rain pounded down on the few small houses in the town. A loud crash awakened eight-year-old Kevin Jet. He rubbed his eyes drowsily and continued to lie in bed trying to go back to sleep.

A loud gunshot sounded through the house. He bolted up in his bed. He quickly threw the covers off of him and crept towards his door. He slowly opened it and went out into the hall, looking over the balcony to the floor below. He saw a shadowy figure standing over a bloody body.

Tears burned in his eyes when he realized the body was his father's. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned quickly to see his mother. There were tears running down her face as well.

"Get in your room and lock the door. Hide under the bed and wait for a few hours. Then get up and go straight to the Pokémon Center," she whispered, slightly pushing him back to his room.

He nodded and did exactly as she told him, locking his door and crawling under the bed, waiting quietly. He heard a few other gunshots and the scream of his mother. More tears crept into his eyes before finally pouring down his face.

He then heard footsteps and his door was kicked open. He saw the feet of whoever had broken into his house and killed his parents. He tried to keep quiet but his sobs gave him away. A strong hand gripped around his elbow and he was jerked out from under the bed and thrown against the wall. He turned to see the man in a mask with a gun poised right at his chest.

Just as Kevin thought his life was going to end, there were a few loud barks from their pet dog Inferno, a Houndour from his uncle in Johto. It distracted the murderer, who turned before Inferno leapt from the doorway and tackled the murderer. The gun was sent skidding across the room. Kevin ran out the doorway, down the stairs, and headed toward the Pokémon Center.

Kevin bolted up in his bed with a cold sweat. The fourteen-year-old scanned his room, seeing nothing but his room, with Inferno sleeping soundly in the small beanbag chair that Kevin had made into a dog bed for Inferno. He rubbed his eyes wearily, trying to shake the memory out of his head. He often had nightmares that made him relive the night that his parents had died.

He had run all the way to the Pokémon Center, and told a policeman who was there what had happened at his house. The man was arrested and taken to a high-security prison in Dewford City.

He turned fifteen the next day, which was when he was going to start his Pokémon Journey to get all the badges and eventually challenge the Elite Four, and defeat the mysterious champion who was fabled to use many rare steel type pokémon.

Kevin looked over to the clock next to his bed. It was five in the morning. He got up and walked over to the window in his room, looking outside. The moon was nowhere to be seen, and the sky was still a very dark brown. He guessed that the sun would be rising soon. So he decided not to go back to bed, not that he would be able to if he tried.

He walked over and knelt next to Inferno, petting him lightly. The fire/dark pokémon, who had become a very light sleeper, slowly stood up. Kevin stood up and walked downstairs to the gym in his house. Inferno followed after him, panting quietly.

When Kevin walked into the gym, he turned on the light and rubbed his eyes again to help them adjust to the light. The entire wall of the gym opposite the door was a mirror, used to check form while working out. There was a bench press, a punching bag, a butterfly press, and various different weights spread out all over the room.

There were also various targets located along the different walls, used to train pokémon. Kevin walked over to another door in the room, opening it and dragging out a large pad. He wrapped it around two 50-pound dumbbells, and then walked over to the bench press. Inferno walked over to the wrapped dumbbells and pushed his shoulder against them, trying to push them. This was one of the many exercises that Kevin used to train him.

Ever since that night, Kevin had worked out alongside Inferno's training. He would do various workouts while Inferno would shoot embers at the targets, try to crush small weights with its teeth, or, as it was doing now, push large weights. At the beginning of the training, Inferno could only push ten pounds and could even get the embers on the targets. But over the seven years that they had trained, Inferno had improved greatly.

Kevin had also gotten much stronger. When he was eight he was extremely scrawny. Now he had a fairly muscular body for his age, and his abs showed slightly through his stomach. He always thought of the murderer that had killed his parents, which always gave him motivation in his workouts. And today, he would start to put all of his working out and all of Inferno's training to the test as he would start the biggest journey of his entire life.


	2. The Beginning

_Chapter 1: The Beginning_

After about an hour and a half of working out, Kevin checked Inferno's progress. He had moved the weights a couple of feet, crushed four small weights with his biting, and all the targets were scorched. Right now, Inferno was panting heavily, as Kevin was sweating a lot. He wiped his face off with a sweat towel and pet Inferno.

He walked up the stairs, followed by Inferno. It was about 6:30 when he checked the clock once he got upstairs. He filled a bowl with water and another bowl with dog food and set it on the floor so that Inferno could have his breakfast. Then he headed to his room and into the bathroom and took a quick shower.

When he got out, he got dressed in a red, long-sleeved, button-up shirt and black pants. He rolled up the sleeves of the shirt up to just below his elbow. It was now about seven and the sun was shining brightly outside.

"Okay, here we go!" Kevin said to Inferno, and together they walked outside and headed towards Professor Birch's lab.

It was quite brisk outside, which was why Kevin was wearing pants instead of shirts and a long-sleeved shirt. He pulled the gloves out of his pocket and slipped them on. They were black, like his pants, and only covered his hands, leaving the fingers exposed. He then ran a hand through his jet black hair and let out a sigh. He then saw Professor Birch's lab and grinned as he walked in.

When he opened the door he was automatically greeted by the warm air from inside. He scanned the room and saw Professor Birch talking to a boy who looked to be about a year older than Kevin, an inch or two taller and with short blonde hair. He was wearing khaki shorts and a navy t-shirt.

'He must be used to the colder weather,' Kevin thought.

He continued up to the professor, and then waited for him to finish with the boy. The boy seemed to be choosing his first pokémon. He was given the option between a Mudkip, a Treeko, and a Torchic.

The kid seemed to think for a while, and finally chose a Torchic, a small orange pokémon that looked like a tiny chick with a few yellow feathers sticking out at its neck and the top of its head. Once the boy walked away, Kevin walked up to Professor Birch.

"Hey, Professor!" he said cheerily.

Kevin knew Professor Birch well because he had been encouraging Kevin to go on a pokémon journey for a while, and had often cared for Inferno whenever he was sick.

"Hey, Kevin. So, you're starting your pokémon journey I see?"

"Yup!"

"Good, good. Well, you obviously don't need a starter pokémon with a fine specimen like your Inferno! So, is there anything I can help you with before you go?"

"Well, there's the matter of handling my extra pokémon once I get more than six…"

"Ah, yes. I'd love to do that for you. Here's some pokégear…"

The professor picked a wristwatch like thing from a desk and handed it to Kevin.

"It works as a phone and a watch. It also has a map of the Hoenn region on it. Anyway, I've already set up the pokégear with my transportation system. Whenever you get past six pokémon, the next time you catch a pokémon, it will be automatically transported here. And whenever you want to trade out pokémon between the ones here and the ones you have, just call me up and I'll explain the process."

"Okay, thanks a lot professor!"

"And, one last thing, Kevin. Good luck!"

"Thanks!"

And with that, Kevin turned and left the lab, followed by Inferno. Kevin stopped by his house again to pick up a few pokéballs and then headed north to Oldale Town. Kevin decided not to confine Inferno to a pokéball since he had never been in one and was used to living in the outside world.

As Kevin and Inferno left the city limits of Littleroot, they heard a loud voice calling for them. Kevin turned to see the same boy from the lab running toward them. The boy stopped a few feet in front of them, and was breathing hard.

"Um…hi?" Kevin said curiously.

"Oh…hey…what's your…name?" the boy asked in between large gasps for breath.

"Oh, I'm Kevin Sun. And this is my Houndour, Inferno. What's your name?"

"My name's…Seth Murphy. Nice to meet you," the boy said, finally regaining his breath and offering his hand. Kevin shook it.

"Anyway, I saw you earlier at the lab when I was getting my starter pokémon. I was wondering what kind of pokémon that was that you have. What did you say it was?"

"It's a Houndour," Kevin said proudly, petting it on the head. "Let me guess, you've never seen one before?"

"Exactly. That's why I wanted to catch up to you and ask."

"Well, it's a gift from my cousin. I got it a long time ago. It's from the Johto region. I don't think they live in the Hoenn region, and if they do, they're extremely rare."

"Oh, well that explains it!" said Seth. "Anyway, now that I've caught up to you, do you want to have a pokémon battle?"

"Sure! You up for it Inferno?" Kevin asked Inferno.

"Hound!" Inferno replied excitedly, nodding his head.

"Awesome!" Seth exclaimed. "Okay, it'll be a one on one, no time limit. Go, Torchic!" Seth yelled, throwing a red and white pokéball, which burst open and white energy spilled out, forming into the small chick pokémon that Kevin had seen Seth pick earlier.

Kevin took out the pokédex that Professor Birch had given him for his fourteenth birthday. He pointed the red device at the pokémon and flipped it open.

Torchic: The Chick Pokémon

Torchic has a place inside its body where it keeps its flame. If you give it a hug, it will be glowing with warmth.

"That's cool. Go Inferno!" Kevin yelled.

Inferno leapt from where it was next to Kevin to in front of Kevin, only a few feet from the Torchic.

"Torchic, use Ember!" Seth yelled.

"Inferno, fight fire with fire. Use your own Ember!" Inferno shouted back.

At almost the same time, Torchic and Inferno opened their mouths and burning flames flew from them. They met in midair, and pushed against each other. After a while, they seemed to merge and an explosion occurred.

Smoke cleared and Torchic seemed to be burnt a little while Inferno seemed fine.

"Good job, Inferno. Now, use Smog!"

Inferno opened its mouth and spewed out a thick purple smoke and blew it towards Torchic.

"Torchic, dodge it and use Scratch!"

Torchic jumped over the purple cloud of smoke and bore down on Inferno, scratching it with its talons. Inferno winced.

"Fight back with a quick Ember!" Kevin shouted.

"Dodge it!" Seth yelled back, alarmed.

But Torchic didn't have time to dodge it as Inferno spewed out flames from its mouth, hitting Torchic at point blank range. Torchic was thrown back and had more burns on it now.

"Hurry Inferno! Finish it off with Bite!"

Inferno leapt at Torchic and quickly bit it with its sharp teeth, clenching its jaws strongly. Once Inferno let go, Torchic was out cold.

"Good try, Torchic. Return," Seth said a little disheartened.

"Great job Inferno!" Kevin shouted, scratching Inferno behind the ears.

"That was a good match, Kevin. Well, I hope I'll see you later! Good luck on your journey."

"You, too!" Kevin replied.

They shook hands and set off separate ways on the route leading to Oldale Town.


	3. The Storm

_Chapter 2: The Storm_

As Kevin walked along the route towards Oldale, he thought of the battle he just had with Seth. It was his first battle, and he had won! All the training that he had done with Inferno was already starting to pay off. He wondered when his next battle would be, and who it would be against. He also wondered what the gym leaders would be like.

According to what Professor Birch had told him, eight gym badges were required to qualify for the Hoenn League Championships that were held each year. He also wondered how long it would take him to get all the badges and get all the way to Ever Grande City, the city in which the Championships were held.

Just then a loud squawk-like sound pulled Kevin out of his reverie.

"Tail!"

Kevin saw in a tree a small, bird pokémon. That's where the noise had come from. Kevin checked the pokédex.

Taillow: The TinySwallow Pokémon

Taillow, though a small and young pokémon, is fearless. No matter how strong an opponent, Taillow will stand its ground and fight. But the pokémon loses the will to do anything when it becomes hungry.

"Awesome. A courageous pokémon will be a great help. Inferno, hit it with an Ember!"

Inferno barked and opened its mouth wide, spewing out flames towards the Taillow. The pokémon flew out of the way, the flames singing the branch it was perched on, and closed its wings, darting towards Inferno with incredible speed.

"Inferno, watch out!" Kevin cried.

Inferno jumped out of the way, but the Taillow swerved just in time and hit Inferno right in the side. Inferno skidded through the dirt, its teeth clenched in anger.

"Inferno, get it with a Bite!"

The Taillow was headed back to the sky but Inferno was too quick. It leapt high and grabbed Taillow in its jaws, biting hard. Taillow let out a cry of pain as it tried to get free. When Inferno finally let it out of its jaws, the Taillow slumped to the ground.

"Great! Pokéball, go!" Kevin shouted, throwing a pokéball at the small bird pokémon.

But Taillow was resilient, and managed to get enough energy to use its wing to swat the ball away. Kevin caught it and looked at the pokémon in astonishment.

"How is it still strong enough to fight? Oh well, it's too weak to dodge another attack! Inferno, finish it with an Ember, but not too strong!"

Inferno nodded, and spewed a few small flames at the Taillow. Kevin tried the pokéball again, and this time it hit the Taillow, opened, and sucked it in. The pokéball shut tight and fell to the ground, rocking back and forth…ping!

"YES! I caught a pokémon!" Kevin shouted happily.

"Hound!" Inferno exclaimed as well.

Just then, Kevin noticed that the clouds above were getting very dark.

"Come on, Inferno! We need to hurry to Oldale Town!"

They sprinted along the trail, continuing toward Oldale. Once they could see a glimpse of Oldale in the distance, it was starting to rain lightly. They continued rushing towards Oldale at top speed. By the time they finally reached the fairly small town, the Pokémon Center was easily found. It was one of the biggest buildings in the town. The rain was starting to pick up now.

Breathing heavily, Kevin and Inferno walked inside the Pokémon Center, and saw various people there, talking to each other and eating. The air inside was very warm compared to the cold and wet weather outside. Kevin looked around, and saw Nurse Joy at the reception desk. He smiled, noticing how beautiful she was, and headed towards her.

"I need my Houndour and Taillow to be treated please," he said politely.

"Okay. It should only take about an hour," she replied, taking Taillow's pokéball and leading Inferno into the back where all the pokémon were treated.

Inferno turned around and scanned the room again. He wasn't sure what to do while he waited on his pokémon. He saw that the storm was intensifying greatly outside. The rain was pouring and lightning flashed across the sky. Even over all the chatting all around the room, he could hear the pounding of the rain on the roof.

He went to the cafeteria in the building and got some food, realizing he hadn't eaten all day. He carried the tray full of food back to the entrance room, and found an empty table, setting his tray down and beginning to eat. Just then, the power shut off. Inferno couldn't see hardly anything, the only lights coming from the room where the pokémon were being treated, where emergency lights must have come on.

Inferno heard a calm voice issue a command to a weird name.

"Claydol, use flash!"

A bright, violet light filled the room. The source was a strange pokémon. It was black, and had strange white markings on its body. Its head was larger than the rest of its body, and it had purplish-pink eyes all around it head, with small yellow beak-like things protruding out in-between each of them. It was floating, and the light was shining from its eyes, shining out in every direction.

Kevin pulled out his pokédex and pointed it at the pokémon.

Claydol: The Clay Doll Pokémon

Claydol are said to be made out of clay by an ancient civilization, and then brought to life by exposure to a mysterious ray. Its hands are separate from its body, held by Claydol's telekinesis. Both of its hands can shoot out powerful beams.

"Wow, that's an amazing pokémon," Kevin said to himself.

A tall, silver-haired man in a suit was standing behind the pokémon, holding out the pokéball that the Claydol must have come from.

"Good job, Claydol," the man said calmly.

The room was still dim, but bright enough that everything could be seen clearly. The silver-haired man headed back to the room where the emergency lights were, while Claydol hovered to the center of the room and intensified its light. Kevin went back into the room as well.

There were various pokémon on beds all over the room, some Kevin recognized, others he didn't. Then he heard a joyful bark, and Kevin saw Houndour bounding up to him. The man was conversing with Nurse Joy in a corner, while a Chansey checked on the pokémon. Kevin heard bits of the conversation.

"The emergency generator's doing great, but it can only last about an hour. And after that, if the power isn't back on, some of these pokémon won't be able to last," Nurse Joy was saying.

"Hmm, this isn't good. I don't have any electrical pokémon. My Aggron can use a Thunder attack, but since it isn't an electrical pokémon, it won't be nearly as strong and it's already worn out so it won't last long either," the man replied.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Kevin.

"Well, do you have any electrical pokémon?" the man asked.

"No. All I have is Houndour and Taillow. But I don't think that a flying type or a fire ty-…wait! I have an idea!" Kevin exclaimed as an idea popped into his head.


	4. The Idea

_Chapter 3: The Idea_

"What is it?" the silver-haired man asked.

"Well, is there any chance that there are any wind turbines anywhere around here?" Kevin asked.

"Actually, we do. We've had to use them before," Nurse Joy replied.

"Great. That's a relief. Okay, I can use my Taillow's Gust attack. Do you have any pokémon that know Gust or Whirlwind or Twister?" Kevin asked the silver-haired man.

"No, but my Metagross can use Psychic to get the turbines going. The name's Stephen Stone, by the way," Stephen replied, extending his hand.

"Great! My name's Kevin Jet," Kevin said, shaking his hand.

"Okay. Nurse Joy, where are the turbines?" Stephen asked.

"They're just outside the city limits. Follow me, I'll show you," she replied.

"I'll need you to stay here Inferno. Come one Taillow," Kevin said.

Taillow, who was sitting on a bed nearby squawked and flew onto Kevin's shoulder. Inferno jumped up onto the recently vacated bed and rolled up and fell asleep. Kevin followed Nurse Joy with Stephen. The rain was still pouring, and it was getting hard to see.

"Metagross, go! Use Flash!" Stephen commanded, throwing out a pokéball.

The pokéball burst open, releasing white energy that formed into a Metagross. It was a big metallic blue pokémon, with four arms with spikes on the bottom pointing downward, and a big silver X marked on the pokémon's face. It levitated in the air like Claydol. Kevin pulled out his pokédex and pointed it at Metagross.

Metagross: The Iron Leg Pokémon

Metagross is the evolved form of Metang, resulting from two Metang fusing together. With four brains, Metagross can solve complex calculations quicker than a supercomputer.

'Wow,' Kevin thought.

Metagross's body glowed with a blue aura, and suddenly blue light shone brightly everywhere around it, easily lighting the way for Kevin, Stephen, and Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy headed up a trail, and Kevin and Stephen followed. After passing the last house in the city, ten minutes later, they finally reached a wind farm, with at least fifty wind turbines lined in five rows of ten. They were already blowing lightly because of the storm, but the storm wasn't producing enough wind to do much.

"Okay, Taillow, use your Gust attack to get the turbines spinning!" Kevin shouted over a loud clap of thunder.

Taillow flew over beside one row of turbines and started flapping its wings strongly, causing a large amount of wind, turning the entire row of turbines.

"Great, Taillow! Keep it up!"

"Metagross. Use Psychic to get the rest of them turning!" Stephen yelled.

Metagross's blue aura grew stronger, and the remaining forty turbines glowed with the same blue aura, and began turning very quickly. Stephen then turned to Nurse Joy.

"We'll stay here to make sure our pokémon keep the turbines going. Contact us when the power returns," he told her.

"Okay," Nurse Joy replied, and headed back to the Pokémon Center.

Kevin hoped that it would be soon. He wasn't sure how long Taillow could keep going, considering that he hadn't done any training with it. Kevin was amazed at how powerful Metagross was. And Claydol was great as well.

'Stephen must be an amazing trainer. I hope that I can reach his level eventually. And the pokémon he has are pretty rare. It's amazing,' Kevin thought.

Taillow looked to be tiring a little, but it kept its gust attack going strong, blowing the turbines as hard as it could. Kevin knew he was lucky that Taillow was so determined. He would probably keep the attack going until its wings gave out. He didn't want to push Taillow so hard, but he knew that it was important to keep the turbines going to make sure the pokémon back at the Pokémon Center would be taken care of.

It seemed like hours and they were still out there, still nothing from Nurse Joy. Taillow looked extremely worn out, but Metagross looked like it was still just warming up, floating lazily with its aura glowing just as strongly as it was when he first started using Psychic. Kevin checked his pokégear. It had actually been an hour and a half. He was amazed that Taillow was still able to keep going.

Kevin and Stephen hadn't said a word since Nurse Joy had left. It was useless trying to get in a conversation, considering they would have to yell to hear each other over the rain and thunder. Just then, Kevin heard a loud ringing from Stephen's pokégear. He saw Stephen talking into it, but wasn't able to distinguish what he was saying.

"Kevin, we can go back. The power has been restored to the town!" Stephen yelled.

Kevin nodded, just noticing that the rain had let up a little, and it wasn't lightning or thundering as much.

"Taillow, you did great! Return!"

Taillow was transformed into red energy and sucked back into its pokéball. Stephen recalled his Metagross as well, and they headed back to the Pokémon Center. When they walked in, Nurse Joy rushed over to them with two towels.

"Thank you," they both said, taking the towels.

Kevin dried off quickly, and then headed back to the bed that Inferno was sleeping in. He decided to let Inferno sleep there for the night, and then headed to the bunk beds in the Pokémon Center. A lot of people hard already gone to sleep. Kevin checked his pokégear again. It was already 1 am.

Kevin took off his shirt and laid it on an empty nightstand, and put his belt with Taillow's pokéball and his pokégear next to it. He then slipped off his shoes and got into the bed next to it. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He woke up the next morning and stretched, still feeling a little tired. He stood up and put his shirt on, buttoning it up and rolling up the sleeves again. He put on his belt and strapped on his pokégear. Lastly, he put his shoes back on and stretched once again before yawning and heading back to the lobby of the Pokémon Center.

There, his Inferno was sitting, eating a bowl of dog food near an empty table. He was just finishing. When Kevin walked into the room, Inferno noticed, and sprinted to him, nearly knocking him over as he happily greeted him.

"Hey, Inferno. You seem very well rested," Kevin said laughing.

Kevin petted him on the head once he calmed down a little and then walked to the reception desk.

"Hey, Nurse Joy. Where's Stephen?"

"He already left. He said he had important exploring to do at a cave on Dewford Island," Nurse Joy replied.

"Oh. Well, I guess I better be leaving, too. Thanks for helping my pokémon," Kevin said, turning to leave.

"Thank you for helping the Pokémon Center," Joy replied as she waved goodbye.

And with that, Kevin left the Pokémon Center and headed in Petalburg City's direction.


End file.
